A comparison of estimation methods for fitting Weibull and Johnson's SB distributions to mixed spruce–fir stands in northeastern North America

Abstract

Four commonly used estimation methods were employed to fit the three-parameter Weibull and Johnson's SB distributions to the tree diameter distributions of natural pure and mixed red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) – balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) stands, respectively, in northeastern North America. The results indicated that the Weibull and the Johnson's SB distributions were, in general, equally suitable for modeling the diameter frequency distributions of this forest type, but the relative performance directly depended on the estimation method used. In this study, the linear regression methods for Johnson's SB were found to give the lowest mean Reynolds' error indices. The conditional maximum likelihood for Johnson's SB and the maximum likelihood estimation for Weibull produced comparable results. However, moment- or mode-based methods were not well suited to the observed diameter distributions that were typically positively skewed, reverse-J, and mound shapes.